Enchanting Whale Songs, Stories of a Changing Arctic

Below:

Next story in Science

NEW YORK — By tracking and listening to whales, scientists have
unlocked secrets about the dramatic changes currently underway in
the Arctic. They've also learned that these whales are talented
singers.

In a wide-ranging talk here at the American Museum of Natural
History, researchers and a documentary filmmaker revealed how
declining levels of ice have affected the Arctic, as well as the
humans that dwell there. Their stories, recounted during a
session of the
World Science Festival, billed as an annual celebration and
exploration of science, reveal the difficulty and beauty of
working in the harsh, and quickly changing, environment of the
far North.

There, ice is paramount to the traditional order of life. "Ice in
the Arctic is everybody's best friend," said Kate Stafford, a
researcher at the University of Washington. "All animals and
people depend on it." [ On
Ice: Stunning Images of Canadian Arctic ]

Whale song

Stafford has used special devices to listen to the songs of
bowhead whales, which has allowed her to track their movements
and estimate their populations. In a 2012 study, she heard many
more bowhead calls than expected, suggesting that the huge
beasts — once hunted to the brink of extinction — may be
rebounding. The songs were also more complex than those of other
whales, sounding almost like a bird's song, she said.

Stafford also found that, in some cases, bowheads in the Fram
Strait, east of Greenland, seem to prefer hanging out under old,
thick ice. This is perhaps because the ice acts as a better
"theater" in which to broadcast their beautiful calls, or perhaps
it offers more protection from killer whales, she said. As ice
continues to dwindle in the Arctic — 2012 saw the smallest
extent of winter ice ever recorded — killer whales can
advance farther north, pressuring even the enormous bowhead
whales.

University of Washington researcher Kristin Laidre shared the
experiences she's had with narwhals, also known as "unicorns of
the sea." She recounted the difficulties involved in attaching
satellite tags to these reclusive whales, which live far offshore
and feed more than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) under the surface. But
her persistence has paid off, and she has been able to attach
tags to several of the animals; the
tags record where narwhals go and the temperature of the
water they swim through. This data has been inputted into
computer models that have allowed researchers to better
understand the Arctic climate, Laidre told LiveScience. "The
whales sample the ocean for us," she said.

Sarah Robertson, a documentary filmmaker, has witnessed male
narwhals "jousting" with their long tusks, which are actually
teeth. Contrary to its name, though, jousting is a rather gentle
affair, where males cross tusks and slide them against one
another. "You get the sense that they don't want to hurt the
other," Robertson said.

Once again, though, the whales acted as sentinels for larger
changes. Robertson witnessed the animals jousting while traveling
with Inupiat guides, who knew from experience that this rare
behavior only takes place in the spring, just before the ice
breaks up. Sure enough, 12 hours after the whales jousted, the
ice gave way. "Clearly, the narwhals knew something we didn't,"
she said.

Angels in the abyss

Researchers also discussed their experiences with
beluga whales, also known as "canaries of the sea" because of
their beautiful songs. Robertson has made many dives in the
frigid water to document the pure-white giants, which "glow like
angels in the dark abyss," she said. One time, a beluga
echo-located right in front of Robertson, bouncing sound beams
off her body. "I was scared," she said.

Scott McVay, who was the first to document the six-octave
song of the humpback whale, recounted the time in 1973 when
he captured the first-ever video of a bowhead whale from the air.
With only minutes of fuel left in the helicopter, his team
captured a bowhead rising out of the water and blowing out water.
He read a poem to commemorate the event. "Miracles sometimes
stand alone," went one of the lines.

Perhaps human performance isn't appreciated only by humans.
Musician Garth Stevenson told the story of the trip he took with
whale researchers to Antarctica, where he played a piece inspired
by a whale song on his bass. Just after he finished, 12 Sei
whales approached the boat. "It was a very magical experience,"
he said. Stevenson played a similar piece during the event while
a video of his trip played in the background.

A common thread throughout the event was the changes witnessed by
researchers and locals, mostly involving the retreat of sea ice.
With less ice, it is harder for subsistence hunters to catch
these animals. Likewise, the lack of ice has harmful effects on
the whales, which need it for protection from killer
whales, and to seek out prey — like Arctic cod — that prefer
to live beneath the ice. The researchers are racing to capture
data before more changes occur.

"It's urgent to get as much information as possible now," Laidre
said. And the whales are helping to do just that.